1505-15; compare Danishgumpe to jolt, gimpe to move up and down, Swedishgumpa,Low Germangumpen to jump

Related forms

jumpable, adjective

jumpingly, adverb

outjump, verb (used with object)

unjumpable, adjective

Can be confused

hop, jump, skip (see synonym study at the current entry; see synonym study at skip)

Synonyms

1. Jump,leap,vault imply propelling oneself by a muscular effort, either into the air or from one position or place to another. Jump and leap are often used interchangeably, but jump indicates more particularly the springing movement of the feet in leaving the ground or support: to jump up and down.Leap (which formerly also meant to run) indicates the passage, by a springing movement of the legs, from one point or position to another: to leap across a brook.Vault implies leaping, especially with the aid of the hands or some instrument, over or upon something: to vault (over ) a fence.

jump

v.

1520s, perhaps imitative (cf. bump); another theory derives it from words in Gallo-Romance dialects of southwestern France (cf. jumba "to rock, to balance, swing," yumpa "to rock"), picked up during English occupation in Hundred Years War. Superseded native leap, bound, and spring in most senses. Meaning "to attack" is from 1789; that of "to do the sex act with" is from 1630s. Related: Jumped; jumping. To jump to a conclusion is from 1704. Jumping-rope is from 1805. Jump in a lake "go away and stop being a pest" attested from 1912.

n.

1550s, "act of jumping," from jump (v.). Meaning "jazz music with a strong beat" first recorded 1937, in Count Basie's "One O'Clock Jump." Jump suit "one-piece coverall modeled on those worn by paratroopers and skydivers" is from 1948.